Archive for the ‘turfway park’ Category

By Ray Paulick
Kentucky’s signature horse industry is in a battle for survival, but its enemy is not the army of slot machines in neighboring Illinois, Indiana, Missouri or West Virginia, or a few hundred miles north in Pennsylvania or south in Louisiana. It is the commonwealth’s own elected officials, beginning with Gov. Steve Beshear, whose bumbling leadership in Frankfort has enabled a gang of hapless legislators to begin the process of euthanizing the state’s No. 1 industry.

The mercy killing may not take that long. Ron Geary, the owner of Ellis Park, told the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission yesterday that 2009 will be the Western Kentucky track’s final season unless Kentucky legislators give tracks the tools to compete with other states: slot machines. Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky has cut purses and may be forced to reduce the number of racing dates next year. The only reason the track has not been closed and sold for development is that Keeneland is part owner, and officers of the Lexington racetrack and auction house understand how important a racing circuit that extends beyond Keeneland and Churchill Downs is to Kentucky.

How desperate is Kentucky’s racing business? When Churchill Downs general manager Jim Gates asked the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for approval to add a single race to this year’s Kentucky Oaks and Derby day cards, there was a lengthy discussion about whether or not the Louisville track would have enough horses to fill those additional races.

And the racing commission itself is all but tapped out. Forget about heightening integrity of pari-mutuel pools, improving backstretch security and launching out-of-competition drug testing. The commission is having a hard enough time making payroll for existing staff, let alone filling new, vital positions and creating programs to boost public confidence in Kentucky’s horse racing product. Other states may have permanent funding for their racing commissions to do what’s required to maintain integrity, but this is Kentucky, where the horse industry is viewed by some legislators as “the sport of kings” when in reality it is becoming a poor, forgotten stepchild.

Click here to take a look at the distressing presentation Ellis Park owner Geary made to the commission when he explained why he won’t have enough horses for this year’s meeting and will likely cut back to three days of racing per week, or perhaps just open for live racing on weekends. The reversals of fortune in purses being offered at Ellis Park and Turfway are frightening. Tracks in Indiana with purses enriched by slot machine revenue are taking an in-your-face, competitive posture against southern neighbor Kentucky. Pennsylvania, with a booming racing and breeding program fueled by gambling devices, is boasting that it is the future horse capital of the world. Vans are transporting racehorses and breeding stock in every direction – away from the Blue Grass State.

“Kentucky’s signature industry is fading away…100,000 jobs, and they are at risk right now,” Geary told the racing commissioners.

Yet Kentucky’s governor, who made expanded gaming his signature campaign platform and had the wholehearted support of the horse industry, suffered a severe case of memory loss in 2008 after his election, failing to bring up the issue in his “state of the state” address or make it a legislative priority. This year, Beshear has apparently gone into the witness protection program or is hiding out in a bunker until the legislative session comes to an end. He has shown a complete lack of leadership.

Legislators in some parts of Kentucky understand the importance the horse industry plays to the state’s economy, but too many House and Senate members from outlying areas simply don’t see the connection between those 100,000 jobs at racetracks, training centers and breeding farms and their own districts.

What’s not to understand? Jobs provide for payroll taxes to the state and revenue to local communities. Racetracks and breeding farms promote tourism throughout Kentucky. Without racing and breeding, Kentucky’s already bleak budget crisis would only be worse. Can you imagine how much the state would have to invest to create 100,000 new jobs? Kentucky must move forward on a plan to provide video lottery terminals, slots machines or casino wagering at the state’s racetracks for the industry to compete.

But if Kentucky’s governor and legislators can’t even provide funding for its own racing commission, how can we realistically expect them to approve a plan to provide economic stimulus to the racetracks and breeding farmers who are struggling?

“We’re essentially going to be broke at the end of this fiscal year,” said Robert Beck, chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. “I’ve got an economics degree, and I can’t figure it out. Our source of funding is not going to go through the legislature, and I’m very disappointed by this.”

The lack of support from the state, which Beck called a “travesty,” will, he said, “directly affect the integrity of the game.”

Beshear appears to be well on his way to becoming a one-term governor, and while there is hope Kentucky’s next chief executive will provide more leadership than Beshear has, the damage to the horse industry will be severe – if not fatal — when his time is up.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
Amidst all the gloom and doom in American racing today (and I don’t see any need to repeat all the problems here), there are some good things going on, some positive ideas being generated and programs launched at several tracks across the country. Several of those ideas recognize the power of the online community. Some initiatives are geared toward providing information or entertainment for veteran horseplayers while others are designed to market the sport to newcomers.

The New York Racing Association has embraced online video through one of the world’s most popular websites, YouTube.com (currently ranked third behind Yahoo and Google in traffic). NYRA isn’t the first racing organization to develop its own video channel at YouTube (Churchill Downs, for example, has both a corporate channel for viewing replays from its tracks along with a Kentucky Derby channel), but the in-house television crew for the New York tracks is producing some outstanding new content for the NYRA YouTube channel that can be entertaining or truly informative.

The best example of that is a relatively new program called “Trips & Traps,” hosted by morning linemaker Eric Donovan and in-house television handicapper Andy Serling. The professionally produced weekly show, launched in September, can help anyone looking for an edge in their betting but is especially useful for fans who are interested in learning how to watch a horse race. It focuses on problem trips that horses invariably encounter in a race, either due to bad luck, inexperience or questionable judgment by jockeys. Ultimately, Donovan and Serling provide horses to watch when they return in their next starts that might be worth a bet. They also point out the “traps” that horseplayers might want to avoid with some horses whose troubled trips could result in them being overbet next out.

Serling had a previous stint years ago on NYRA’s in-house simulcast show and was hired full-time by the association last year. A serious horseplayer who was never afraid to express his opinions – positive or negative –  about racing in general and NYRA in particular, Serling is enthusiastic about expanding NYRA’s online video presence. “It’s a very cheap way to promote the sport,” he said, “and it gives us an opportunity to give something back to the fans. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. We’re trying to teach people and offer some insights. We’ve gotten great, great feedback so far.”

NYRA’s television department has also filled its YouTube channel with stakes races from the past and present and some offbeat biographical features on jockeys called “Jockey Video Cards.”  A good example of the style and content is the video profile of apprentice Jackie Davis, daughter of retired jockey Robbie Davis.

‘SHOWVIVOR’ AND SIEGEL AT SANTA ANITA

Santa Anita Park is fortunate to have the creative marketing talents of Allen Gutterman and a talented in-house television team that is part of HRTV, co-owned by parent company Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc.

The Southern California track introduced “Free Fridays” this year, a promotion that includes free general admission, $1 drinks and snacks and free box seats while they last. The early returns were favorable.

Gutterman is using Santa Anita’s website in a number of ways, including the return this Saturday of “Showvivor,” a popular online contest modeled very loosely after reality television shows such as “Survivor.” In a nutshell, “Showvivor” is a show parlay that challenges participants to be the last person standing after making one selection to finish in the top three each racing day. Click here for details.

Rather than putting extensive videos on Youtube, Santa Anita is adding content from HRTV onto its own site, using Jeff Siegel, a well-known Southern California horse owner and longtime public handicapper, as the centerpiece. Siegel’s Selections are available every racing day and on other days he can be seen on video previewing the week ahead, in addition to reviewing stakes races and highlighting potential future stars.

Other tracks are putting more and more content online, too. Churchill Downs recently revamped its Kentucky Derby website, adding fresh video, Derby contender profile and rankings, and news.

TURFWAY’S CHEAP DATES REVERSE TRENDS

Lost in the deluge of recent negative industry trends, including a steep decline in 2008 national pari-mutuel handle, was the news that Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky actually had a minor increase in daily average pari-mutuel handle – both on and off track during its holiday meeting. Turfway may not have the resources of NYRA or Santa Anita, but its marketing team, like those at many other tracks, have discovered the benefits of viral marketing through the online community Facebook.com or MySpace.com.Turfway has built a large following of Facebook and MySpace “friends” and regularly sends reminders to them about special promotions and discounts at the track, where admission and parking is already free.

The gains were minimal (on-track betting was up 0.3% and all sources handle rose 1.8%), but we’ll take any good news we can find. Track president Bob Elliston said several factors helped Turfway Park hold its own, including an average field size of 10.4 horses per race (up slightly from the previous year).

For the last couple of years, Turfway has offered a promotion called “Dollar Friday,” featuring live music and $1 beers, hot dogs and bets. Cincinnati magazine, in its “best of the city” annual edition, rated Turfway’s Dollar Friday as the “best cheap date” in the area. “That puts us in the mainstream,” Elliston said, “particularly at a time when consumers are looking for value and affordability. We may have reached a tipping point through word of mouth on our Dollar Fridays. We’re seeing it continue to grow and grow. On the handle side, the per capita isn’t the same on those nights, but people are participating at the windows and the concession stand. And we made a conscious decision to explore the social networking avenues like Facebook and MySpace.”

Though there are major industry challenges these promotional or online marketing efforts cannot address, they can’t do any harm, either, and the sense is that the more that’s done in these areas, the more racetrack marketing people will learn how to use these new cost-efficient tools. 

I’m sure there are many other tracks using their websites or online social networking to effectively promote racing. Use the comment section below to let us know about some of the other good ideas and promotions that are taking place across the country.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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